


Wishes

by gayleef



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Multi, adeleine is a good older sister, bandana is a Friend, dedede is a gay mess, kirby is an innocent bean, marx is very much not, meta knight is oblivious, ribbon is a sassy but sweet gal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-09-29 04:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayleef/pseuds/gayleef
Summary: Kirby wishes to save a potential friend and help him out, but everyone else is opposed to the idea. Could they be right?





	1. Chapter 1

_What was I thinking._

The round purple figure was floating out in the middle of space, surrounded by broken mechanical parts of what was once the wish-granting comet, Galactic Nova. He didn’t know how long he’d been there- hours, weeks, months. He just knew why he was there. He had lost a battle to the star warrior, who didn’t look like more then an over-sized pink marshmallow.

 _Stupid Kirby… how did you beat me?_  Marx thought.  _I had it planed perfectly! I made the sun and the moon fight, I tricked you into summoning Nova, I stole the wish! Though I didn’t expect…_

He shivered, feeling a ping of pain run through him, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the memory or the fact that he was floating around in below freezing temperatures. It wouldn’t be long before said cold got to him permanently, after all.

 _…Heh. So_ this  _is how I’m gonna go, huh? How boring…_

He closed his eyes as much as his muscles would allow him, waiting for the cold to take him, but after who knows how long what little light there was in space was suddenly blocked by shadow. Marx opened his eyes a little, and would have screeched if he weren’t too weak to.

There, floating above him with a sorrowful look on their face, was the star warrior themself. Kirby was gently shaking Marx to presumably check if he was alive, and upon seeing him open his eyes his expression softened to one of relief. Marx’s expression would have been quite the opposite, that is if he had even the slightest amount of energy to move.

Kirby grabbed on to the boy, which he would have struggled against given the chance, and swam through space until their warp star flew in front of them. Jumping on to the warp star they headed to Kirby’s home planet, Popstar. The jester turned to Kirby with confusion, to which, when they noticed, Kirby returned with a soft smile before turning back to make sure they were on course.

 _Why are they doing this?_  Marx thought to himself, still staring at Kirby.  _Why?_

_Why…_

The jester drifted to sleep.

——————————————————-

“Pleeeeaaaase Dedede? Meta Knight? I know I can help him, I know it!”

Kirby was standing in the throne room of King Dedede’s Castle, trying to convince said king and Kirby’s own mentor to let Marx stay with one of them. They were failing so far.

“Pinky, ya know he was tryin’ ta destroy Popstar, right?” The king said, gesturing to Marx, who was still asleep and currently trapped in some kind of electric cage guarded by Sword Knight and Blade Knight.

“No, he just wanted to control it! Just like you two did, really recently! I don’t know why yet but that’s all he wanted!” The star warrior insisted. “He’s only a kid, like me! I can’t just leave him to be miserable…”

“Kirby, his way of ‘controlling Popstar’ was  _a lot_  more aggressive then both Dedede’s and my own attempts” The mysterious knight scolded. He was never one for second chances. “The best I can suggest for you to do with him is to leave him on a planet very very far away from here and-”

“Mety, stop.” Dedede spoke solemnly. Before the knight could retort he pointed towards Kirby, who was on the brink of tears. They were a powerful galaxy saving hero, yes, but as they said earlier they were still a child. “Just… lets let him try. If anyone can make a monster like that regret ‘is actions, it’s Kirby.” Dedede whispered to the knight. “'Sides, if that little gremlin trys anythin’ we can clobba ‘em up.”

After a moment of silence, Meta Knight finally spoke up.“…Fine. Me and his majesty will watch Marx and make sure he doesn’t t-” Dedede elbowed him.“Er, make sure he’s ok. But know that I will not hesitate to use Galaxia against him should he try to hurt anyone.”

Dedede was face palming, but Kirby seemed happy with that response. “YAAAAAAAAAAAY! Thank you, Meta Knight! Dedede!” The orb was giggling happily now, and the duo’s hearts couldn’t help but melt at the sight. 

Kirby walked up to the cage Marx was sleeping in, nodding to Sword and Blade as they did, and peered through the bars at him. “I promise that we’ll be friends, Marx…”

“I promise.”

——————————————————-

“Ugghh…” Marx groaned as he woke up. He was on a soft bed he didn’t quite feel like getting up from, still pretty sore. “Where… am I…”

The boy looked around the room, it looked as if it was set up for some royalty to visit. Fancy red curtains hanging from the windows, a red and gold oval carpet on the floor, dressers with a red and gold cover styled like the carpet on them, potted plants in different corners of the room, it truly looked as if this belonged to a king or queen. The only thing that was off was that the door’s lock seemed to be on the other side. So why was Marx here?

A knock on the door, well, knocked Marx out of his thoughts, a familiar and aggravating voice sounding through it. “Ay, gremlin, ya awake yet?” Dedede shouted. Marx let out a small surprised screech in response. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

The king let himself inside the room, only to see Marx huddled in the corner of his bed, seemingly trying to be as far way from Dedede as possible. He could almost laugh at how pathetic the jester looked, but refrained. “Relax kid, I ain’t gonna hurt ‘cha.”

Dedede started walking towards Marx, to which the grape-like individual hissed and went further back into his corner.  _Ok, this is just sad…_  Dedede thought. He continued approaching the jester, who continued to hiss, and finally stopped to set some food down on the bed. A full dinner, with steak and salad and bread. Marx finally stopped hissing and just looked confusedly at the king. Dedede snorted. “Look gremlin, that lil puffball wants to try an’ 'help’ you for whatever reason, I’m just tryna help 'em out with that. 'Least I could do with what they’ve done for me.” He started walking towards the door. “Just don’t go 'round thinkin’ I trust ya or somethin’, 'cus believe me, none of us do.” And with that he closed the door behind him.

Marx was more confused then ever, but he wasn’t about to turn down free food. Without a second thought he scarfed it down in record time, looking almost like a wild animal while doing so. After a bit he started thinking about what Dedede said again. “'Just don’t go 'round thinkin’ I trust ya or somethin’, 'cus believe me, none of us do.’ Ha, was that supposed to hurt me? As if I care whether some dumbass king and his idiot followers like me or not.” He chuckled to himself. But the other thing…

“That lil puffball wants to try an’ 'help’ you.”

What did he mean by that? Was Kirby gonna try and brainwash him to be as stupid as every other Dreamlander? Did they randomly decide that Marx was right and want to help him control Popster again?

Just as Marx started seriously pondering it, he heard footsteps heading for his door.


	2. Chapter 2

The door to Marx’s room opened a little bit and out from it peeked a small pink orb, looking upon him with hopeful eyes. “Marx! You’re awake!” Kirby giggled as they ran towards the jester and tackled him into a hug. This however made Marx extremely uncomfortable. “HEY HEY HEY GET OFF ME YOU GULLIBLE BABY.” He shouted, flailing as much as his body would let him. Kirby hopped back to the ground and said, “Sorry! I was just so excited to see you!… But why’d you call me a baby? You’re only a year older then I am!”

“Oh yeah? Tell me what gullible means.”

“Uh…”

“That’s what I thought.” Marx huffed triumphantly. “Either way, I’m wondering…  _why,_ exactly, you thought it was a good idea to save me from freezing to death and bring me back here. I’d like to think you’re not  _that_  stupid to just bring me here because you’re nice.”

“Well, like you said, I wanted to save you from freezing, but also I wanted to try and be friends with you!” The pink individual said hopefully. Marx would have face palmed if he had arms. “You’re… kidding, right?”

“Why would I lie?”

“Oh my stars you literally can not be that dumb.”

“Hey, what’s dumb about wanting more friends?” Kirby pouted. “I think you’d make a cool friend if you really tried to be!”

“Oh yeah? Well would a cool friend do THIS?” And with that, Marx started to ready an attack. Kirby ducked getting ready to fight, but to their surprise, nothing happened. When they looked back up, Marx had a look of betrayal on his face. “…I SAID, would a good friend do THIS.” He tried again, nothing happened. “I… Wha…”

The star warrior looked worried. “Marx are you o-”

“WHERE ARE MY POWERS!?!” He suddenly yelled, scaring Kirby in the process. “WHAT HAPPENED? ALL OF THEM ARE GONE, EVEN THE MAGIC I HAD BEFORE THAT LET ME MAKE THE SUN AND MOON FIGHT.” He turned towards Kirby angrily. “YOU DID THIS HUH? SO I COULDN’T FIGHT BACK?”

The puffball looked hurt. “Wha… No! Of course not! And I asked Dedede and Meta Knight not to do anything like that either!” Marx wasn’t satisfied with this answer. “Then where did my power’s go?”

“Hm…” Kirby started pondering, before they came to a realization. “Oh I know! Your body’s probably still trying to heal from our battle, and you were also floating in the middle of space, so you can’t use your attacks for now maybe?”

“That… actually makes sense, for once.” Marx started pouting. “But WHY did it have to take ALL my abilities!”

“You were really hurt…”

“And  _who’s_  fault is that?”

Marx immediately regretted that comeback, as Kirby now looked like they were going to burst into tears at any second. That was the last thing he needed. “Look, Pinky, just do whatever it is you want to do with me, ok? Then I’ll be on my way and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“But that’s the thing!” Kirby started waving their arms rapidly. “I don’t want to never see you again, I want to be your friend!”

Marx rolled his eyes. “Well then do whatever you plan to do for that then!”

Again, Marx regretted saying what he did but for the opposite reason now. Kirby looked so happily and hopeful at him, it made him want to gag if he was honest. “Well,” Kirby started, a tone of cheerfulness in their voice, “I was thinking maybe we can have a picnic! I know you just ate but-”

“I’m there.” Kirby was a bit surprised at the sudden response, but looking at Marx, he was already drooling.  _Wow, he really likes food, huh…_  The orb thought.  _Even better! We have something in common then!_

“Alrighty then! I’ll go get it set up and I’ll be back in a bit!” The star warrior said gleefully as they went to the door. “See ya later, Marx!”

Marx was left alone in his room again, he groaned while falling back onto the bed. “So their plan  _is_  to make me as dumb as the other Dreamlanders, huh…” He sighed. Of course it was, why would he ever expect more from such a small minded- though powerful- individual. “Well then…” A menacing smile spread across Marx’s face. “I’ll just take advantage of it! I’ll be their ‘friend’ for a little while, but as soon as I get my powers back, I’ll just take off and go take over another planet! But not before doing something to hurt them, hehehehehe…”

——————————————————-

Meta Knight flew through a window into the throne room of King Dedede’s castle, going to talk to the king himself. “How is Marx?”

Dedede chuckled. “Geez, would it kill ya to just say ‘Hi’ for once?” Meta Knight sighed upon landing on the throne arm. “Hello, your majesty. Now how is Marx?” Dedede simply huffed in response.  _It really wouldn’t kill ya ta just have a normal conversation with me…_

“The gremlin’s fine, Mety. He actually seemed scareda’ me at first, but apparently now him an’ Kirby are gonna go on a picnic.” Dedede said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Though I did overhear the little puffball mention somethin’ on the way out…”

This peaked Meta Knight’s interest. “Which was?”

“Marx ain’t got any powers.”

“What?”

“He’s still too weak after everythin’, doesn’t even have his normal magic right now.”

Dedede could see the relief that washed over Meta knight, something that was uncommon for sure. In fact, he wasn’t sure he had  _ever_  seen Meta knight so relaxed. 

“If they are to leave the castle, I shall follow them to keep an eye on Marx. And I thank you again, your majesty, for volunteering to keep him this first time.” Meta Knight spoke sincerely, something that was also quite uncommon. “Now if you will excuse me, I must keep watch out for Kirby.”

Meta Knight flew off, and after a few seconds the king sighed and whispered to himself, “Or you could just stay here, I sure wouldn’t mind spendin’ some time with ya…”

“Pardon?”

Dedede hadn’t realized the knight had only gotten to the window, and now the king was cursing himself. “U-uh, I said ta just go already! Kirby ’ll be here any moment, and I’m sure he’d know what yer doin’ if he spotted ya!” He said, obvious panic in his movements.

“…Ooooookay then… I’ll be on my way, your majesty.” And with that, Meta Knight actually toke off.

Dedede slumped into his throne, his cheeks as red as a tomato. “Why did I do that…”

Another voice sounded out, startling him. “To be fair your majesty, Sir Meta Knight usually does leave quicker then that.” Dedede whipped around to see a Waddle Dee guard, specifically one who was one of the best in the castle despite their young age. This was discernible by the little red ribbon tied around their spear.

“H-how long have you been standin’ there?” Dedede questioned, even more red in the face now.

“Oh, the entire time my liege.”

“Why?”

“It’s… my job?”

“Oh. Right.”

A small, awkward silence ensued, only making Dedede more flustered, before the Dee spoke up again. “Would you like me to leave or…”

The king buried his face in his hands. “Yes, that’d be very much ‘preciated.”

“Understood.” The Dee said, making their way for the door, before turning around again. “Um, your majesty?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone about your crush on Sir Meta Knight.”

Dedede flustered up so bad he couldn’t even respond. He wanted to retort it, but how could he after all of that?

“…Thanks.”

“No problem, your majesty!” The Dee said gleefully before exiting the room. All Dedede did after that was bury his face in his hands, at least until he heard the doors of his castle open.


	3. Chapter 3

Kirby was happily skipping up to Castle Dedede, swinging a picnic basket full of food in their right paw. They were unaware of the mysterious knight lurking nearby in the trees however, but they were just happy knowing that they have a chance at helping out someone else.

After enthusiastically greeting each Waddle Dee guard they passed, they pushed the grand doors of Castle Dedede open and let themself inside, though something was off. Usually, the Waddle Dee guards stayed outside as to keep guard of the castle, but this time they marched in after Kirby and just stood there on the inside. Maybe this was a new protection thing they came up with?

They walked by the throne room and waved at Dedede, who was still a bit flustered but waved back anyways. As they were skipping down the halls of the castle they hummed a familiar tone, a tone that one might say is the star warrior’s favorite song. When they finally reached the room that Marx was staying in they knocked and shouted, “Maaaarx! I’ve got all the stuff for our picnic ready!” They heard the boy’s voice rang out. “Ok! I’ll be there in a- yEOUCH!” Followed by a loud thud.

Concerned, Kirby rushed into the room to find Marx face down on the floor in front of the door, as well as a fallen step stool and a piece of string loosely tied to the doorknob.  _Oh, he was trying to prank me._  Kirby thought, giggling a bit.  _It must be harder to do when he doesn’t have his magic…_

“Are you ok Marx?” They asked, trying to hide their amusement.

“Yeah. Perfectly fine.” Marx sarcastically replied, muffled by the carpet. “Could you help me up now?”

The orb proceeded to put down the basket and help Marx back to his feet, and then looked back and forth between him and the stool, to which Marx only turned away and scoffed like an edgy anime boy. Kirby giggled at this, making Marx flustered and suddenly say, “Can we just go for our picnic already? I’m starving.”

“Huh? But didn’t you just eat 2 hours ago?”

“Well, as you can see, I’ve been working. Besides, you’re one to talk Kirby.”

“Fair enough!” Kirby replied cheerily, which annoyed Marx. Was there no way to get under this idiot’s skin?

The two of them walked out of the room together, only to come face to face with about a dozen Waddle Dee guards, all holding their spears in a defensive position. Kirby frowned at this, but Marx simply chuckled. “What?” The boy said teasingly, “Afraid I’m gonna trip your precious star warrior in the hallways?”

“Marx you’re not helping…”

“I’m not  _trying_  to.”

Kirby sighed and continued walking, Marx following close behind with a know-it-all look on his face, and the Waddle Dee guards following behind him. The star warrior was irritated, an emotion that they didn’t commonly have. And they can’t really say they enjoy it. 

After a bit they got to the entrance of the castle, the guards finally going back to their original positions in protecting Castle Dedede. As Kirby and Marx walked down the mountain, the former tried to strike up a conversation. “Sooo… Have you gotten any of your abilities back yet?”

“Would I have been on the floor when you came into my room if they did?” Marx replied with sarcasm.

“Oh, right.”

There was a bout of silence before another conversation came about, this time surprisingly started by Marx. “Ugh, walking is SO boring! I miss rolling around on my ball, it’s more fun  _and_  faster.” He complained. Kirby toke this as an invitation. “It is?”

For once, Marx looked genuinely excited. “Yeah! Not only that, but there are a ton of tricks you can do with it as well! Flips, back-flips, if you’re REALLY good you can turn it really fast and then kick it at someone to hurt them!” He said, giggling mischievously. Kirby didn’t quite like that last example but Marx seemed to be enjoying himself, so they didn’t say anything about it. “That sounds really cool!”

The jester blinked in surprise.“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah, really!”

“Oh… huh, no one has… thought it was cool before…" 

Kirby noticed Marx looking a bit distant in that moment. Was he… sad? But the jester quickly snapped himself out of the trance and continued jokingly, "They usually just point out how messed up shooting a fast ball straight at someone’s face is, usually because they were the victim of it.” Marx laughed, as did Kirby, even if the laugh was a bit nervous in tone.

The duo continued their chat, Marx infodumping about his knowledge of ball tricks and later different pranks, ever so slight wiggling his feet when he got really excited, and Kirby listening to him and asking questions about certain things once in a while, making sure to remember this stuff for whenever Marx trys to prank them again. Soon enough, Kirby spotted a hill in the distance with a single tree sprouting from it, excited pointing at it and leading Marx up there. “This is my favorite spot in all of Dreamland!” They cheered. “We’ll be having our picnic here!”

Marx sat down in the shade of the tree while Kirby set down the basket and pulled a blanket from it, starting to spread it out. The grape noticed the tree leafs rustle a bit, but didn’t think anything of it. He was only think about one thing right now: food.

“So, Kirby,” He began, “exactly what did you bring for us to eat?”

“Oh! I brought lots of things!” Kirby said, still spreading out the blanket. “Sandwiches, cake, meat, fruit, tomatoes- oh, and I brought a special thing just for you!”

“Huh?”

Kirby finish setting up the blanket and went over to the basket, looking through it a bit (and sneaking some of the contents into their mouth in the process) before bringing out what they were looking for. “Here you go!”

Right there, in their paws, was… a bundle of grapes. Marx just stared dumbfounded at them for a moment before he got the joke, then simply turned to Kirby straight faced and, in the most monotone voice he could pull, said “I hate you.”

Kirby burst into a fit of laughter, contagious laughter at that, as Marx slowly started giggling himself. He then got up and toke the grapes from Kirby, sat back down, a ripped one off the branch before eating it. The star warrior softly gasped and whispered “Cannibalism…”, causing Marx to laugh so hard he nearly choked on said grape.

The children spent quite a long time there on that hill, eating and joking around, Marx even seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. Before they knew it the sun was setting, so they packed up and started the track back to Castle Dedede. They were mostly quiet on the way back, only exchanging a few comments on how nice the weather was then, but when they got back to the castle Kirby gave the picnic basket to one of the Waddle Dee guards to take back to Marx’s room. “Why are you doing that?” The boy questioned.

“Because,” Kirby said, “there’s still some food left in there, so I figured you could eat it if you get hungry again!”

Marx smiled, but quickly shook it off. “…Thanks, I guess.” Kirby was a bit confused as to why Marx was acting all cold again all of the sudden, but figured it was because they were in front of other people. Not wanting to show affection in front of others… Yep, that sounded like him alright.

“Ok then, I’ll see ya tomorrow Marx!” The star warrior shouted as they ran off. “Bye!”

As Marx walked back to his room, the Waddle Dee guards still following behind him, he began to think about everything that had happened that day.  _He’s really serious about this whole ‘friends’ thing, huh?_  Even if he wouldn’t admit it, Marx did genuinely enjoy the play date with the star warrior, and they did as well… didn’t they?

Suddenly, Marx remembered the moment when the leafs rustled just before they began their picnic. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but the reason they were rustling was because something flew into them.  _Meta Knight._  He thought.  _Of course those idiots wouldn’t actually leave us unsupervised… or maybe it was a request from Kirby themself?_

He got back to his room, one of the Waddle Dee guards leaving the basket in the room before going out and locking the door behind them.  _Well, either way…_  The jester hopped onto his bed, a menacing look on his face.  _I’ll play their little game. I’ll become their 'friend’ and get close to them._

Marx toke one final look out the window to the moon before proper laying down to sleep.  _After all, it’ll just make their face when I betray them all the better…_


	4. Chapter 4

About 2 weeks had passed since Kirby rescued Marx from freezing in the middle of space and set out to become his friend. They came by Castle Dedede to hang out with him each day, having little conversations and playing with random toys Kirby would bring and then leave there so Marx wouldn’t get bored. But now, it was Meta Knight’s turn to keep an eye on him and make sure Marx didn’t try anything.

Marx was packing up, getting ready to leave and go to whatever hell was waiting for him on the Halberd, when suddenly King Dedede himself showed up at the door of the room he had lived in til now. “Hey! Gremlin! Can we talk for a second?” An obvious reluctant tone in his voice, Marx replied. “Sure, whatever.”

The king let himself in, surprised to see how clean the room looked. “Wow,” he teased, “you’ve done a darn good job keepin’ this room tidy, ‘specially since you don’t have hands.”

“What do you want, dumbass?”

Dedede frowned. “That’s no way to speak to a king, gremlin.” Marx simply rolled his eyes.

_He’s already got me irritated, is the puffball really sure this is a good idea?_  Dedede thought to himself. Sure, he had a short temper, but it doesn’t usually go _that_  quick.

“Listen kid, I just wanna know why you tried that whole 'Take over Popstar’ plot in the first place. Kirby said that it’s 'cus you wanted to rule it, and as a king I’ll tell ya it’s not-”

“But you’re not a king.”

“What d'ya just say, punk?” Dedede’s eye was twitching at this point.

“Well, you’re not. You just had the little amount of followers you had build a castle atop the tallest hill in Dreamland, declared yourself king, and stole everyone’s food. The only reason you’re still here is because everyone in Dreamland shares one brain cell and can’t think for themselves, so they follow whatever 'leader’ they can find.” The jester stated, a wide grin across his face. “Believe me, the moment they find someone better then you at guiding them you’ll be left in the dust and forgotten.”

King Dedede was shaking, though whether it was from anger or fear was unknown. He couldn’t even comeback at Marx, which only made Marx’s grin wider. In the distance a horn sounded, bringing both of them back to the real world. “Whelp, there’s my new home!” He walk by Dedede, dragging his suitcase behind him. Marx stopped beside the penguin, stared up at him mischievously, and said, “See ya in two weeks, false king.”

As Marx walked away, Dedede couldn’t help but think about what he said. It was the only thing his mind could focus on, actually. He couldn’t be right… could he? Would everyone abandon him if they found someone else to lead them? Kirby? His Waddle Dees?  _Meta Knight?_

…He didn’t want to think about it.

——————————————————-

As Marx was walking down the hill towards the Halberd, he was interrupted by none other then Kirby themself. “Hi Marx!” They charmed, walking beside him now. “Hey, do you want me to carry your suitcase for ya?” Marx had come to expect this kind of almost VIP-level treatment from the orb, but he was still surprised for some reason. “Yeah, that’d help a lot actually!”

The two of them kept chatting while they made their way down, truth be told Marx had come to somewhat like Kirby’s company a little, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to betray them. When they got to Meta Knight’s ship, the knight in question as well as Sailor Dee, Axe Knight, and Mace Knight came down from the door to greet the two of them. Meta Knight had his three accomplices lead Marx up the doorway as Kirby waved bye and left, but Meta Knight soon stopped them once he realized something.

“Where is his majesty? He said he would meet me here when you were to be left with me so we could discuss how to properly deal with you.” He said sternly. Marx frowned, he could already tell he was gonna have a  _great_  time here. “He’s still in the castle, considering how he was when I left he’s probably still near my room.”

“And why would that be?”

“You’ll see.” Marx replied, a hint of playfulness in this voice. How this child could get under people’s skin so easily, no one knew, but he could.

As the jester was lead the rest of the way inside, Meta Knight toke off towards the castle to look for his employer. Luckily he knew the castle like the back of his hand, so it didn’t take long, but when he found the king the sight was… less then pleasant.

King Dedede was standing there in the middle of Marx’s room, or at least, what was left of it. Most of the furniture had been smashed to pieces, parts of the carpet and curtains had been burned, and the entire room was just a mess, and considering the king had his hammer out, it was pretty safe to assume why it was.

“Your majesty…?” Meta Knight called out, obvious concern coating his voice. Dedede flinched in response, turning around revealing the tears running down his face. Meta Knight had never seen him this mad and emotional before.

The knight swooped over to Dedede, landing in front of him on the floor. “Your majesty are you alright?”

No response.

“Your majesty… Dedede, please, what happened?”

“Are ya gonna abandon me, Mety?”

This caught Meta Knight off guard. “Pardon?”

“When someone more capable of runnin’ Dreamland comes along, are ya gonna abandon me like everyone else will?”

Meta Knight already knew the answer to why Dedede was acting this way, and a fury stronger then a thousand stars burned inside him from it. Oh how he wanted to slice that little monster in half. But he had to stay calm, for his king.

“Of course I won’t, my liege. And neither will anyone else.”

“BUT HOW DO YA KNOW THAT?” Dedede suddenly shouted. He seemed to be hurting much too much for him to handle. “HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY WON’T LEAVE? HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU WON’T LEAVE? HOW… How…”

He collapsed on the floor and started sobbing uncontrollably. “How… h-how do ya know… ya w-won’t get tireda’ m-me…”

Meta Knight gently flew over lifted the kings face up the look him in the eyes, his own being sincere. “Dedede, I pledged myself to you as your knight, remember? That was a promise to never leave your side. And I intend to keep that promise until the day I pass on.”

“Mety…”

“And as for the others… You’ve done so much for them now and they love you, I doubt they’d ever even let someone else try to take over.”

Meta Knight moved to where he was hugging the king around his shoulders. “No one’s going to abandon you, your majesty. And if they do, then let them, but they have a sword with their name on it waiting for them.”

Dedede was silent for a moments before nuzzling himself into the knight and hugging back rather tightly. “Th… T-thank you… Mety…”

“It’s an honor, my liege.”

“…Hey, Mety… uh… never mind…” Dedede whispered.

The two of them stayed like that for awhile, just taking comfort in each other’s company, before Dedede broke it off. “Mety, y-you should, uh, make sure the gremlin gets to his room safely.”

Marx was the last thing Meta Knight wanted to think about right now. “I’m tempted to just tell Kirby that we need to let him go do his own thing on another planet.”

“Mety.”

He sighed. “I know I can’t, but I very much want to, especially now.”

“Please, I just gotta make sure I don’t let 'em get me like that again.”

“Whatever you say, Dedede.” Meta Knight started for the window, but before he left he wanted to double check. “Are you going to be ok, my liege?”

Dedede shrugged. “Eh, I’ll be alright. One kid gettin’ under my skin a lil too much ain’t the end of the world.”

The knight nodded, then left out the window. As it turned out, Dedede lied. Being comforted by his best friend helped a lot, but he was still very shaken by the whole thing. He stood there in the destroyed room a bit longer before another voice chimed in. "Your... majesty?"

It was that same Waddle Dee from before, who had promised to keep Dedede's "secret". They were obviously very worried seeing the state of the room, but decided not to say anything about. Clearing their throat, they started. "Your majesty, I don't know exactly what's going on, b-but, um... would you like to join me and the other Dees for game night? Y-you don't have to, of course, I just..."

"Y'know what?" The king chuckled, "That sounds like a great idea. Lead the way, captain."

The Dee's face lit up immediately. "O-ok then! Follow me, my liege!"

And so they left the room, the Dee leading the king by hand.

——————————————————-

Meta Knight came back to Marx and his knights playing hide and seek on his ship. Trident Knight had just found said grape, and they were currently trying to find Sword Knight. As much as he loved seeing his friends having fun, Marx having fun was something he very much hated seeing.

He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Forgive me for interrupting all of you, but I must lead Marx to his quarters now."

"Aww can't we finish our game, Sir?" Axe Knight pouted. 

"I'm sorry, but no." Meta Knight said, walking over to the jester and beginning to lead him towards the corridors of the ship. "See ya guys later! We'll play another time!" Marx cheered, knowing that doing so would get on Meta Knight's nerves.

Although the rest of the knights looked disappointed, their leader didn't want them getting close to Marx. He continued leading the boy through the ship until he got to the room he was supposed to stay in and opened the door for the two of them to walk in. It was a lot less fancy then the one Dedede had for him, only a bed in the corner with a bed stand next to it and a dresser across the room from there. The floor and walls were made of a bronze-like metal, just like the rest of the ship. Marx was underwhelmed, but simply rolled his eyes and set his suitcase down next to the dresser.

"Well, thanks for leading me here." The jester began. "Now if you'll excuse me I'll just-"

He was stopped by Galaxia being pointed straight at his face, the knight having an extremely angry expression on his own. "H-hey hey hey, what's the b-big idea?" Marx asked with obvious fear in his voice.

Meta Knight turned his sword slightly to where it was right under the boy's bowtie and started. "I found the king, and I don't know what exactly you said to him, but if you _ever_ do that to him or anyone else again, I will not hesitate _to slice you into pieces._ " He poked Galaxia slightly into Marx. "Understand?"

Marx gulped, he was genuinely scared for once. "Y-y-yeah, I unders-stand." He whispered, "P-please don't hurt me..."

The knight withdrew his sword back into it's sheath. "Good." And with that, he left. He couldn't help but think he was a little too harsh on the boy, but at least he got his point across.

Marx was still standing stiff in his room. Oh how he wanted his powers back. How he wanted to use them and teach the knight a lesson not to mess with him. But he couldn't do that. Rather then let the thoughts of Meta Knight continue to swirl around in his mind, he decided to go to sleep. This was gonna be a long two weeks.


	5. Chapter 5

Kirby was sitting in the middle of a field somewhere in Dreamland, looking up at the stars. It had been a few days since Marx went to stay on the Halberd, and Kirby noticed how the boy was unusually quiet. They went to ask if Meta Knight or Dedede knew anything about it but they too were quiet about it. Needless to say, the star warrior was frustrated.  _Why can’t they just tell me what’s wrong? It’s not like I don’t know anything…_

As they were sitting there, something caught their eye. A small, rainbow colored object was shooting through the night sky, glimmering as it did. Kirby gasped. “A shooting star! Wow!” Just then, even more came, shooting in every direction! Kirby was in awe, it was a beautiful sight! But they were soon knocked out of it when two things hit them on the head, one after the other. 

It didn’t take long for them to come back to their senses, but when they did there was something odd going about. They heard a high-pitched voice not too far from them. “Ow ow ow! Talk about a crash landing…”

Upon opening their eyes, they saw that the voice was coming from a small, humanoid creature with wings, wearing a red dress and a red bow in her pink hair. She was also holding one of those small rainbow objects, which Kirby now noticed was a crystal. They decided to express their worry about the girl. “Uh, are you ok?”

She turned to them slightly surprised, apparently she hadn’t noticed them. “H-huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine, thank you!” She brushed herself off and started flying. “If I may ask, where am- OH!” Kirby was slightly startled by the fairy’s sudden outburst, but they noticed her frantically pointing besides them. “That thing right there! Can you please give that to me? Please please please?”

Kirby looked at where she was pointing to see another one of those crystals. “Oh!” They exclaimed, “Yeah, sure! Here ya go!” They said, tossing it in the air.

The fairy proceeded to do the same with hers, and the two crystals fused to make a slightly bigger one that she caught. Kirby was happy seeing the girl flying around with glee, but that soon faded when she realized just how small the crystal actually was.

“Oh no, this isn’t nearly as big as the Great Crystal… the Fairy Queen entrusted me to protect it and I failed her… What am I gonna do now…” She looked up at the sky, the last of the crystals falling onto the planet. “It’s gonna take forever to find all the pieces, and that’s if those weird dark eyeball things don’t get to them first…”

 _Weird dark eyeball things? Oh no…_  The star warrior thought to themself. If this girl and her people wear dealing with the Dark Matter, there was no way they could just stand by, and so they didn’t. “Hey, don’t worry! I’ll help ya out!”

She turned to look at them, surprised but obviously grateful. “Really? You will?”

“Yeah of course!” They struck one of their signature poses. “My name’s Kirby by the way, nice to meet ya!”

The fairy bowed and said, “I’m Ribbon! It’s nice to meet you too, Kirby! And thank you again for helping me!” She turned back, facing the same way Kirby was now. “Alrighty then, let’s get moving! We’ve got no time to waste, come on!” She yelled as she flew off.

Kirby was a bit worried that this would halt them going to see Marx each day, but if the galaxy was at stake, he’d have to wait a bit.

——————————————————-

The next day, King Dedede was looking out from the roof of his castle, still thinking about everything Marx had said to him. Even after all the comfort his best friend and court offered him, he couldn't help but feel like the boy was right. Sighing, he turned around to head inside when something caught his eye. A rainbow colored crystal, lying right there on the floor. 

"What in the world...?" He picked it up and examined it. The closer he looked at it, then more he began grinning.  _Hehehe... I bet I could sell this for lotsa money..._

Just then he heard a very familiar, currently unwanted voice shouting up the stairway. "King Dedede! I need to know if you've seen something!" 

Bursting out of the door was none other then Kirby themself, followed by a small pink gremlin, some random artist, and... the same Waddle Dee guard that always tried to comfort him? King Dedede simply rolled his eyes. "What do ya want, puffball?"

"Dedede! Have you seen-"

"Kirby wait! Look, in his hand!" The artist pointed out the crystal Dedede was holding. Kirby grew a giant smile on their face, but Dedede just looked annoyed.

"Yay! Thank you Dede..." Kirby began, before the king yanked the crystal out of reach. "And what makes ya think I'm just gonna give this to ya, huh? I don't even know why ya need it!"

"Dedede, please! It's an emergency!" The orb cried.

"Emergency my- ARGH!"

Suddenly, King Dedede was surrounded by a black mist that was absorbing into him. The Waddle Dee gasped. "SIRE!"

"Not again..." "Oh no..." Ribbon and the artist said at the same time.

Before long, the Dark Matter had entirely possessed Dedede, and Kirby readied themself for battle.

——————————————————-

The rag-tag group of heros was camping under the starlight, King Dedede snoozing against a tree, the Waddle Dee guard, who the group has come to call Bandana due to an incident earlier in the adventure where a clothe landed on their head, sleeping next to their king, and Ribbon and the artist Adeleine asleep side by side in a sleeping bag. But there was one hero not asleep, but simply staring out at the stars.

For some reason, Kirby just couldn't get themself to sleep, which was odd considering how easily it came to them usually. Instead they just kept thinking about Marx, and if he was ok.  _I hope he doesn't think I'm avoiding him..._

These thoughts spiraled and changed to think about Meta Knight and King Dedede, and how weird they would act whenever Marx was brought up. Did he do something to make them that way? Were they still holding a grudge against him from before? ...Did they hate Kirby for wanting to help Marx?

The poor orb couldn't handle all these thoughts, they weren't used to negative feelings at all. He just wanted to help Marx but... were they doing the wrong thing? 

"Kirby? Are you ok?"

The star warrior turned around, surprised to see Adeleine standing not to far from where they were sitting. They quickly wiped the tears from their eyes and replied, "Yeah, I'm... fine."

The girl chuckled as she sat down next to them. "You're not very good at lying, you know that?"

Kirby let out a single laugh in response before turning away, so Adeleine continued. "Hey, come on buddy. You can talk to me, promise! I don't plan on getting possessed again any time soon."

Kirby hesitated a bit before speaking again. "Do you know about someone named Marx?"

The painter looked confused. "Yeah, why?"

"What do you think of him?"

"Well I mean, didn't he try to take control of Popstar by gaining unlimited power? Isn't that bad?"

Of course, why would Kirby expect a different response. They didn't, however, expect the next one. "Although... I do remember seeing him around before then."

"Wait, what?" Kirby looked intrigued.

"Yeah, he'd hang around my hometown sometimes! Doing little shows for food and attention, he was really good at entertaining people. I mean, he kinda had a morbid sense of humor, but other then that he seemed nice."

Kirby was both relieved and confused at this. It was cool to know that Marx was a good person before! But then why did he decide to go bad...?

"Y'know, that makes sense, now that I think 'bout it." Dedede said drowsily from the tree he was sleeping against, Bandana slightly awake as well and Ribbon flying over to Adeleine. Kirby felt slightly bad for waking all of them up, but they were more confused about what the king said. "What do you mean?"

After a moment of hesitation and yawning, Dedede continued. "Last week the little gremlin said some... hurtful things to me that have kinda stuck with me since, but... if he really used to do what painter girl said he did, it makes sense that 'ed be upset at me for it, 'cus he tried so hard to get attention and I just waltz in and all eye's are on me."

Kirby gasped. "Wait, is whatever he said why you and Meta Knight have been quiet whenever I mention him? And is that why Marx has been quiet as well?"

Dedede seemed slightly confused. "Yeah, I guess... though I wouldn't understand why the gremlin's bein' quiet unless..." He face palmed. "Unless Mety went and scolded him after he comforted me."

"Wait Marx is alive?" Adeleine shouted behind them, accidentally waking up Ribbon who was trying to sleep under Adeleine's beret. "Can I talk to him after we save Ribbon's home? I used to watch his shows all the time, maybe I could help out in whatever you guys are trying to do!"

Kirby no longer felt sad, but rather happy. Their friends, new and old, supported them in their decision. And they couldn't ask for more. "Yeah of course, Adeleine! I'm sure he'd be happy to see you!"

"Great, can we all go to sleep now?" Ribbon complained in a drowsy tone. "I'm tiiiired."

Adeleine couldn't help but laugh at her tiny new friend. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Goodnight, everyone!"

"G'night!"

"Sleep well..."

"Sweet dreams!" 

And with that, the team slept in peace, more then ready to tackle the adventures ahead of them.


	6. Chapter 6

Marx was pacing around his room on the Halberd. It had been a few days since Kirby last came to visit him, and it was nearly time for him to go back to Castle Dedede, and he was beginning to worry. Was Dedede or Meta Knight stopping them from visiting? Did Kirby just suddenly decide he wasn't worth it?  _Nah, they're not like that._  He thought to himself. But still...

As much as he didn't want to, he decided to ask Meta Knight about it. He was still scared of the swordsman, and he hated that fact, but if he was gonna put his mind to rest about Kirby he'd have to talk to him. Javelin Knight had told him that their captain was on the balcony of the ship, and so that's where he went.

After a bit of a tough climb for the jester, he reached his destination. Meta Knight was there, perched on the railing closest to the front of the ship. After hesitating for a few moments, Marx addressed him. "Hey, jerk mask!"

The knight turned to face him, making a shiver run through Marx. "Yes?"

Marx hesitated some more. Why exactly  _was_  he scared of Meta Knight? Because he threatened to cut him? With his magic Marx could literally split in half and be completely fine, and yet...

The knight turned back around and sighed. "If you're just going to waste my time, I'd suggest you go back to your quarters."

"Wha- No! I have an actual question! I-I just don't know what to say..."

"Just say whatever is on your mind when you think about it."

"...W-where has Kirby been?"

This caused the knight to turn back around with a slightly amused expression. "Oh, you mean to tell me you genuinely enjoy hanging out with the star warrior? I simply thought you were faking it so they wouldn't get upset."

Meta Knight's response, coupled with his expression, flustered Marx. "What? Of course I just... I mean... uh..." Though his current incapability to lie annoyed him even more. "W-whatever! It's just not like them to suddenly stop showing up when they promised they'd be there!"

Meta Knight laughed. "So you're worried about them? And you've been keeping note on their behaviors?"

"NO JUST- MY STARS JUST TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!" Marx shouted, getting more and more flustered by the second. He could tell the knight was immensely amused, and he hated it.

The swordsman laughed again. "Relax, them as well as his majesty and some new friends of theirs are simply off saving the galaxy again. They haven't abandoned you, they're just busy."

Marx seemed confused. "The galaxy's in danger again already? Geez." He giggled. "It's only been a few weeks since I-"

"Months."

"...What?" The jester questioned, somewhat scared of what he was about to be told.

The knight huffed. "You were lost at space for three months, Marx. Most people thought you were dead... except Kirby." He turned to face the jester fully. "They kept looking for you, asking around other planets to see if they had seen you, spending a week at a time sometimes just looking throughout space to find you."

He turned back around. "And when he did, he was so overjoyed that you were alive. I doubt you'd even be able to comprehend it."

Marx didn't know what to say. He was really floating in space for that long? And... Kirby cared that much about him that they continued to search for him for three months? The jester was cycling through so many emotions at once: terror, confusion, sadness, joy... wait, was he crying?

Suddenly, Marx didn't want to betray Kirby again anymore.

"You know," Meta Knight began, startling the jester back into reality, "they wanted me to let you know that once they're done, they wanted to go on another picnic with you, along with a girl who claims to know you vaguely from before you tried to take over Popstar."

Marx sniffled and tried to wipe his tears away the best he could. "T-that... that sounds great."

Meta knight chuckled. "I'll let them know you agree then."

The jester began walking away to go back to his room when he stopped. "... Hey, jerk mask." 

The knight replied with a hum to show he was paying attention, so he continued. "Could you... could you also tell Dedede that I'm sorry for what I said to him?" He coughed. "I'm sorry to you too."

Meta Knight looked very surprised, but that soon fell into understanding. "Of course, Marx."

"Thanks."

So he went to his room, still trying to figure out exactly how he felt about everything. He couldn't quite pin point why but... he felt happy about the future.


	7. Chapter 7

Kirby and company saved the day yet again, and a celebration was held on Ribbon’s home planet of Ripple Star in honor of them. Each of the heros got a special medal for their actions, and Bandana Waddle Dee was given another item in the form of a deep blue bandana, true to their nickname. After saying goodbye to the fairies (not without tears), Kirby, Dedede, Bandana, and Adeleine left Ripple Star in a ship, headed back to their home, Popstar.

On the way back, Kirby began to worry about something. “Hey, Dedede?”

“What is it, pinky?”

“Do you think Marx will be mad at me when we get home?”

The rest of the team turned towards the star warrior, who suddenly felt like they asked a dumb question. “Aw Kirby, don’t ‘cha worry 'bout that.” Dedede laughed. “Mety let him know ye were out savin’ the galaxy again, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Hmm, I wonder what he’s like now…” Adeleine wondered aloud. Kirby wanted to answer, but they weren’t even sure about the answer themself.

Staring out the roof of the ship, Kirby sighed.  _What_ is _Marx like now? Do I really know that?… I hope he’s ok…_

——————————————————-

A crowd was gathered around a field somewhere in Dreamland, specifically where the heros were to land in their ship. Excited chatter filled the air, full of things like "I can't believe our king helped the star warrior save the galaxy!" and "Kirby has done it again! Yahoo!" and "My little Waddle Dee apprentice... *sniff* They grow up so fast!"

Somewhere close to the point in which the heros would soon arrive, Meta Knight, Marx, and the rest of the Meta-Knights were waiting, Marx seeming particularly impatient. After watching the boy pace for a bit, Meta Knight decided to say something. "Is something the matter, Marx?"

This startled the boy, seemingly unaware he was moving so much. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine! I just get like that when I'm thinking."

"And what might you be thinking about?"

"Uh..." Marx hurriedly tried to come up with an excuse. "Just... things. Lots of things. So many that I can't even pin point one."

The knight raised an eyebrow at this. "Is that so?"

"Yes."

"So then you're not thinking about what Kirby's going to do when they see you when they get back."

The jester fell over at Meta Knight's response. "N-NO! OF COURSE NOT!" He spoke as he got up. "WHY WOULD I BE THINKING ABOUT-"

He stopped abruptly, hearing something in the distance. The crowd then began cheering, and as he turned around he could see a tiny ship soaring through the sky, seemingly about to land right where everyone was waiting.

The ship landed, and the roof opened. Everyone was quiet for a second, and then Dedede poked his head out of the roof, causing a loud cheer to sound throughout the sea of people. Meta Knight glided over to the king to meet him as he got out of the ship, landing on the kings shoulder. Even from where Marx was standing he could see the blush on Dedede's cheeks, which made him roll his eyes. "Idiots..."

The second out of the ship was Bandana Dee, who was promptly greeted by the other Waddle Dee guards and thrown into the air in celebration. Many of them commented on how nice they looked with their new accessory, causing the Dee to blush. Next was Adeleine, who, although with no one coming to greet her, was cheered for just as much as the others had been. Marx could have sworn he recognized her from somewhere...

Finally, Kirby themself emerged from the ship, earning the loudest cheer of all. Everyone came rushing towards the orb, congratulating them and asking them how it went. Kirby frantically waved their hands, saying, "No no no! I didn't do it by myself!" They said, gesturing towards their teammates. "My friends helped out so so much, I wouldn't have been able to do it without their help!"

Everyone was cheering for the quartet, chanting their names over and over again. Marx was the only one who wasn't chanting, he actually seemed pretty overwhelmed by all the noise that was happening. The jester began to walk off in hope of finding somewhere quiet to wait when all the sudden he heard a voice from behind him. "MARX!"

The boy was barely able to turn around before he was tackled into a hug by Kirby. "Marx, you're here!" They said. "I was worried you'd be too mad at me for not visiting to greet me here... Oh! And I'm sorry about that too by the way!"

Marx blinked a few times, still processing what was going on, before responding. "Ah, don't worry about it Kirby. I wasn't  _that_  bothered by it..." He said that last part quietly, hoping Meta Knight wouldn't come in and say otherwise. "Besides, you were saving the galaxy! Again! I'd say that's more important then coming to some stupid play date."

"Still, I hope you didn't think I was avoiding you before you knew." Marx flinched slightly, remembering that that's  _exactly_  what he thought. Kirby continued. "Oh but speaking of playing, wait here!"

Marx seemed confused as Kirby ran over to the ship they arrived in, but he was even more confused when they came back holding a present box. The orb happily set it on the ground in front of them. "Here, I got this for you!"

The box was as tall as Marx was, tied with a red and blue bow on top. Curious, Marx started opening the present. It was a bit difficult considering he only had his teeth to work with, but soon he got it open, and just as soon he toke a step back in disbelief.

"Is that..."

"Yep!" Kirby cheered, taking the present the rest of the way out of the box. "I got you a new ball! Since your old one was destroyed and you were talking about how much you wanted one again, I've been saving up to get you one and I finally had enough while I was on my adventure! Do you like it?"

"I..." Marx was a bit teary eyed. "I... I LOVE IT!"

The jester promptly hopped up on his new toy, bouncing on it and doing flips both forwards and backwards. "I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!" The boy seemed like he was having the time of his life in that moment.

Kirby had the biggest smile on their face watching Marx play with it. "Good! I'm glad I made you happy!"

Marx stopped hopping and got a sudden idea, facing the crowd of people not too far away from the duo. "Hey Kirby, want to see a trick?"

The orb was intrigued. "Sure!"

With that Marx began turning his new ball faster and faster with his feet, looking around as he did, before suddenly kicking it, hitting Meta Knight straight in the face. "BULLS-EYE!"

Kirby had a knee-jerk reaction and laughed before quickly covering his mouth. "M-Marx! You're gonna get in trouble!"

"Maybe, but it was funny, right?" 

The two of them turned to see Meta Knight picking up the ball, looking at them, and tossing it back, doing an 'I've got my eye on you' gesture in the process. This made the two of them burst out laughing together. "Yeah, yeah it was!"

After their laughter had died down, Marx began thinking.  _They... really do care about me, huh?_  He looked off in the distance.  _No one's ever gotten me a present before..._

"Hey, Kirby?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

The orb gasped. "OH! You're welcome!" Kirby turned to face Marx. "Ah, I was wondering if you still wanted to go on another picnic tomorrow with me and Adeleine! Would you?"

Marx chuckled. "Yeah. Sure thing buddy."

He wanted to take back that last part, but it was already too late, as he heard Kirby gasp really loud. "You just called me your buddy!"

"What? No I didn't, you're hearing things."

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"You did!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"That's not even an actual comeback!"

This continued for awhile longer, Kirby chasing Marx taunting about the fact that he actually thought of them as a friend, until eventually the two started to feel drowsy. When Dedede and Meta Knight found them, they were lying next to each other under a tree, peacefully asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

King Dedede was busy watching his Waddle Dee chefs cooking the food he was going to pack for Kirby’s picnic. They were hurriedly making sandwiches and meats and pastries and all sorts of food. As they bought up the platters of food the king would take it and put it in the basket, and as he was packing the last of it Kirby and Adeleine arrived. “Hi Dedede!” The orb happily said.

Dedede turned around, happy to see the two children. “Heya little ones! How’ve ya been doing now that yer back home?” He asked, ruffling Adeleine’s hair.

“We’re doing good!” The artist giggled while fixing her beret. “Sir Meta Knight said that Marx was already heading for the spot we were planing to eat at so we came to pick up the food!”

“Well lucky for you,” He said, pulling the basket from behind his back, “I just finished packin’ it up!”

“YAAAY!” The two children said at the same time. Adeleine toke the basket from the king and said “Thank you, your majesty!”

Dedede was smiling while waving at the two. “Have fun you two!”

“We will! Thanks dad!” Kirby cheered while heading out the door.

The king froze in place.  _Did they just call me… dad?_  Dedede was extremely happy in that moment, trying to cover his mouth with his hands to contain a smile, vaguely tearing up. He went to his throne room, grabbing a telephone and dialing a number. It rang for a few seconds before picking up. “Mety, you’re not gonna believe what that little puffball said!”

——————————————————-

“Are you sure he’s gonna be ok with me being there?”

Adeleine seemed nervous about the meeting her and Kirby were heading to. Kirby wasn’t sure if it was because she hadn’t seen him in so long or because of what he’s done recently, but they tried to reassure her anyways. “Yeah! He already know’s you’re gonna be there, so don’t worry!”

The artist sighed. “I know, it’s just… the last time I saw him before I wasn’t exactly being nice to him…”

“What do ya mean?”

“…You know how I said he’d try to entertain the people at my town to get food?”

Kirby seemed confused. “Yeah? What about it?”

“Well you see, Marx was-”

“Hey Kirby!”

The duo turned to see none other then the jester himself, happily rolling up to them on his new ball. “Oh, hi Marx!” Kirby waved, “I thought you were waiting for us at the tree?”

“Yeah but I got super bored, so I decided to come looking for you and whoever you were…” He stopped, staring at the artist. “…Ado.”

Adeleine started sweating. “U-uh, hi M-Marx! How are y-you?”

Kirby, now even more confused, turned to Adeleine. “Huh? Why’d he call you Ado?”

“T-that… was my old name…”

“Oh…”

“Oh, right.” The jester cleared his throat. “I’m doing well… Adeleine. Sorry about that.”

Adeleine smiled at the boy. “D-don’t worry, you didn’t know!… But, thank you for correcting yourself anyways.”

Marx looked to the side. “Yeah, no problem.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence before Kirby spoke up, saying “Anyways! Lets all go to the tree now!”

“Sound like a great idea!” The artist laughed nervously.

The children continued walking down the path to the tree, chatting on the way there. At least, Kirby and Adeleine were, Marx stayed quiet for the whole time. This worried Kirby but he remembered what Adeleine said about her not being that nice to him the last time they’d seen each other, so he didn’t force the grape to talk.

It didn’t take long for the trio to reach the tree, and so the they sat down to start, but… “Oh no!” Kirby exclaimed. “The blanket isn’t here!" 

Adeleine thought for a second before saying, "Perhaps you dropped it at the bottom of the hill? There was that passing Birdon…”

Sure enough, the orb looked and there it was, lying at the base. “Thanks Adeleine! I’ll be right back!”

They darted off, leaving Adeleine and Marx alone. It was quiet for what seemed like forever before Marx spoke up. “Hey I… I’m sorry for calling you by your old name earlier.”

Catching her by surprise, she responded. “Ah, no worries!” She laughed nervously. “It doesn’t really bother me that much… but… I’m sorry too.”

“For what?”

“For siding with those kids.”

Marx gulped. He hadn’t thought about the event in question for awhile, but…

He sighed. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I am gonna worry about it!” The sudden outburst from the girl startled Marx. “They were doing a horrible thing and I helped them!”

"And you would have been hurt if you didn't"

The artist looked at Marx in shock, he continued. "I don't blame any of that on you, ya know." The boy sighed. "And, hey hey hey! I'm still here today, right! It's not like I was  _that_  hurt-"

Adeleine scooped Marx up in a hug, startling him, and she started softly crying into his hat. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... If I had helped you then... then maybe... you wouldn't have done all that... other stuff... I'm sorry..."

Marx tried hard not to cry as well, but didn't work. Tears were running down his face quietly as he nuzzled into the girl's shirt.  _Heh... She underestimates how long I had wanted to do that..._

They stayed like that for a few moments before Adeleine set the grape down and started apologizing again for a different reason. "Oh my stars I don't know what got into me I'm sorry I wasn't thi-"

"Adeleine calm down," the jester laughed, "it's ok. I... thank you."

"N-no problem." She said, wiping away the last of her tears.

"I'M BAAAACK! And I got the blanket now!... Are you guys ok?" Kirby cheered as they arrived on the top of the hill.

"Yeah, we're fine Kirbs! Just... catching up!" Marx said, hopping up to greet the orb. "Come on, let me help you set out the blanket! I wanna eat already!"

"Oh, ok!"

The children spent the entire afternoon together after that sharing stories and eating food. Adeleine couldn't help but notice how much happier Marx seemed with Kirby, and she smiled at that fact.  _I'm glad he's found a good friend._

——————————————————-

"Wow, I can't believe it's your last day on the Halberd already!" Kirby exclaimed, a suitcase full of Marx's things besides them. "Seems like only yesterday I was waving bye to you as you were getting on the ship!"

"I mean, that's probably because you were on another of your 'galaxy saving adventures' for most of it." Marx teased.

The orb thought for a moment. "Yeah that's fair."

The two of them were waiting at the cargo area of the Halbred so they could get off as soon as it landed in front of Castle Dedede. Marx had already said his good-byes to the Meta-Knights, some of them crying during so before their leader reminded them that he'd be back in two weeks. So now Marx and Kirby were simply hanging out and talking.

"Man it's so boooooring just waiting here, I wanna play!" The jester said. "Oh, I know! I'll get my ball!"

Kirby was suddenly a bit concerned. "Marx, Meta Knight said not to play with it back here, remember?"

"Please, I bet he's just worried that I'm gonna break something. It's not like we're gonna be in danger or something." He said, kicking his ball, which bounced off the walls.

And straight onto the 'open hatch' button. 

There was a loud alarm going off and red lights, the hatch right behind them slowly opening and sucking things through. Kirby looked at Marx with an 'I told you so' expression, to which the jester nervously laughed at. "Uh... Whoops?"

The children darted towards the safety area that would soon be closed off by a door, and they would have been fine, but Marx's ball flew through the opening and was getting sucked out. Kirby, being the hero that they are, chased after the ball and caught it, but also being as light as they are, started getting sucked out themself. "WAAAAAAH!"

Marx began to panic. "KIRBY!" And without a second thought, darted through what little opening was left of the safety door and jumped out after them.

Kirby was still holding the ball as they were falling, making it a bit hard to try and float, so they determined they'd just wait until they landed on the ground. Except, they landed on something a lot sooner then they were expecting to. Upon turning around, they realized they were on...

"MARX?!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"WELL, I  _WAS_  TRYING TO SAVE YOU, BUT I REALIZE THAT WAS A REALLY DUMB IDEA." The jester shouted back. "KIRBY WHAT DO WE DO?"

How were they going to hold two things at once and still land safely? The orb was going to freak out, but then they realized that the two of them... weren't falling? How was that possible? 

Then they realized the other thing.

"Marx."

"WHAT?"

"Marx stop shouting and look to your sides."

"What? I don't see why'd that-" He was cut off by his own surprise. Right besides him, or rather on his sides, were beautiful wings made of rainbow scales and a golden outline, the outline having claws and hearts on different part of it. "I... Are...... What?"

"Marx!" Kirby giggled. "You have your wings back!"

"I... do. I DO! AHAHAHAHAHA! I HAVE MY WINGS AGAIN!" Marx began flapping them and turning them slightly to control where they were going. But wait, if he had his wings, did that mean...?

"Hey Kirby, hold on tight for a minute."

"Ok! I don't see why I'd nEED TO OH STARS-"

Marx was doing all sorts of different movements, and then he began testing things. Magical vines? Check. Cresent blades? Check. Magic arrows? Check. Even being able to split himself in half was something he could do again, though this one made it harder for Kirby to hold on, so he didn't do that one much. Either way, this only meant one thing.

"Kirby I... I have all my powers back!"

"Y-ya don't saaay." The star warrior was genuinely happy for Marx, but after being spun around so much they were really dizzy at this point. "Gooood for you Maaarx."

Marx couldn't help but chuckle at Kirby.  _How adorable._  And after all that, there was one more thing he wanted to do...

——————————————————-

"Sir, we can just turn around and look for them! There's no need to wait til we get to the castle and send out a search party!" Javelin Knight beeped concernedly. "We have radars!"

"Hm, that is true..." The swordsman said.

"OH COME ON! No offense sir but doing as Javelin suggested is much more practical, you shouldn't have to think about it!" Vul shouted, his voice filled with irritation.

"Y-you really should yell at our boss, Captain..." Sailor Dee shyly said.

"And you shouldn't talk back to your captain! Now as I was saying-"

"Vul, I'd suggest looking out your window." Meta Knight monotoned.

"What? Why is that needed at a time lIKE OH SWEET NOVA-" Vul screeched, face to face with a light purple eldritch being with pitch black bouncing eyes and a small pink orb on it's back.


	9. Chapter 9

Six months! 

Six months had passed by since Kirby set out on their quest to befriend the morbid jester, and by this point, it was pretty safe to say they succeeded. The two of them would hang out every other day, playing with Marx’s ball or having a picnic (sometimes being joined by other friends), occasionally they’d just fly around Dreamland together thanks to Marx’s wings. Even when Kirby had to go save the world again, this time from some strange mirror world and an evil star thing in a chest that some rats stole, they tried their best to keep in contact. Marx was still being passed around between Dedede and Meta Knight to keep an eye on him...

And now, it was going to be his last switch between the two, because in two more weeks he’d be free to live where ever he wanted.

Kirby was helping Marx pack up his stuff for his last stay aboard the Halberd, which had become a lot more difficult over time what with all the gifts the boy had gotten (most of which from Kirby). They were having a normal enough conversation, but Kirby noticed that Marx wasn’t as perky as usual.

“Hey, is something wrong?” The orb questioned, catching Marx off guard.

“What? Of course not! What could even  _be_  wrong right now?” He was pretty good at lying, but Kirby could read him like a book.

“Marx.”

“What?”

“Are you worried about where you’re gonna live after you get released?”

“Nah of course not!” He said as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. “I’m not the kind of kid that likes staying in one place a long time. I’ll probably just go around a ton of places, stay for a couple of day, and move along. That’s what I always did.”

Kirby suddenly recalls what Adeleine had told them about how Marx used to be. Going from town to town, telling jokes and performing for food… He actually wanted to go back to that, huh?  _Marx sure is weird._

“Well then, what are you upset about?”

"Nothing."

"Come on Marx I can tell you'r-"

"I SAID NOTHING!" He snapped and spread his wings suddenly, causing Kirby to flinch a bit. Instant regret. "Crap, sorry, I-I didn't mean to-"

"I-It's ok! Really, it's ok." Kirby was quick to try and calm him down. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Ugh, I  _know_  you are! It's infuriating, how nice you are." Marx replied in an annoyed tone. This only made Kirby giggle though. "Why can't you just not care about me like everyone else in Dreamland?"

Kirby stopped giggling.

"I doubt it'd be that hard to do, even for you." The jester mumbled, turning away.

"...You're worried everyone's gonna hate you once you get out, aren't you?"

"..."

Kirby didn't know what to say. On one hand, they wanted to reassure their friend, everything will be ok! Everyone's still gonna like and wanna hang out with him! It'll all be cool!... But then, even as optimistic as they are, they knew that wouldn't be the case. There's gonna be a lot of people who'll probably try to make fun of Marx or be too scared to talk to him. Heck, he heard such conversations going on every day. And he knew Marx heard them too, whenever they'd go around together. What could they say that could possibly help with how he's feeling? 

"Who cares what som' randos think of ya?" The kid, both slightly startled, turn to see Dedede at the door. "Only opinions that should matter are that of the people who actually care 'bout ya. You think I'd be as confidant as I am if I listened to every little insult thrown my way?"

Marx simply stares at the king for a moment, Kirby staring at Marx trying to figure what's going through their friend's mind. Dedede continues. "Look gremlin, even if people do hate ya, which lets be honest they will, you have me an' Mety and Adeleine, and Kirby! Ya don't need everyone ta like you all the time."

"...You guys... like me?"

"Why else would we have put up for ya for so long?"

"'Cus Kirby told you to."

"W-well, yeah, at first," Dedede stuttered, "but we've all grown to like you. Genuinely."

"Yeah!" The star warrior cut in. "Meta Knight was just telling me how proud he was of you and how much you've changed! Even if people don't like you right away, I'm sure they will when they actually get to know you!"

Marx stayed silent, but the look in his eyes told Kirby all they needed to know. He was grateful. When he finally spoke up, he muttered, "...Thank you."

"Hey, you don't to thank us, Marx." Kirby said, putting a paw on his friend's side. "We're your friends! It's what friends are supposed to do!"

"I-I know but..."

"Wait, are you crying?"

"No!"

"You totally are!"

"No I'm not! I just caught something in my eye!"

"Hehe, it's ok Marx! You can cry around us too!" Kirby half-joked.

There was a horn in the distance, signifying that the Halberd was here to pick up Marx for his last stay. "Oh! I better go let Mety know y'all will be out there in a few minutes." Dedede said. "Hurry up, you little rascals."

"We will!" Kirby replied as the king walked away. Marx still had a pouty look on his face from the orb teasing him. "Hey, Marx?"

"What no-"

He was cut off by the star warrior abruptly pulling him into a hug. This made go wide-eyed and fluster up a bit before relaxing into Kirby's embrace.  _This... is really nice._  He thought.  _They're really soft, and warm, I wish I could stay here forever..._

_Wait, what?_

Kirby pulled away, Marx still caught up in his thoughts trying to figure out what just happened, only to be snapped out of it by Kirby talking. "You can talk to me about anything, ok? I'm here for you."

Marx blinked a few times before it registered what they said. "Oh, uh, thank you, Kirby." He glanced away. "That... that means a lot."

"No problem, friend!" They cheered. "Now let's finish packing and get you to the Halberd!"

"Right!" Marx replied with the same energy, completely forgetting whatever his thought process was moments ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof sorry for the looooong wait! I got suddenly sucked up into a lot of other interests, and still am into those things, but I wanna work on this again to so! Hopefully it'll start updating often again ^u^


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